As of Oct. 5, all common areas in the Don Taft University Center are open for students to use 24/7. Administrators changed the policy in response to an incident where a student who was studying past midnight in the UC on Oct. 3 reported that a Davie police officer became aggressive.
The incident has led to two separate investigations: one to determine if the Davie officer, who is no longer assigned to this campus, displayed inappropriate behavior and one determining if this is a case of discrimination.
The policy previously stated that students were not permitted to be in any area of the UC other than the pit on the first floor past midnight. Many NSU administrators, including Jessica Brumley, interim vice president for Facilities Management, only knew about the policy in September after students complained about being kicked out of their study locations. She said that Facilities Management needed to be more understanding of students’ needs to socialize and study within the UC.
Brumley said that policy changes were in discussion, but after the incident, administrators finalized the decision to allow students in the building at all times. The decision was originally expected to be made in September, but Brumley said she had underestimated how many people would be involved in the process.
“I probably over-committed to the week [as the time frame to change the policy], not realizing all the people who were going to want to weigh in on the overall policy,” she said.
Because the policy change wasn’t made until Oct. 5, a confrontation between a Davie police officer and AJ Franklin, senior business administration and legal studies major, occurred. According to reports, the officer was hostile in trying to remove Franklin from the vicinity, and Franklin believes his approach was discriminatory.
“I just don’t think it’s right for me, being a black student, to have to go through this, especially the night before I take my LSAT,” he said. “I really want to see justice. Not only for me, but for everyone in the university.”
According to the Complaint Initiation Form submitted to the Davie Police Department, Franklin was studying on the second floor of the UC because he needed a quiet place to study for his Law School Admission Test (LSAT), which was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. the next morning. A Public Safety officer confronted Franklin around midnight to tell him he wasn’t allowed to be in that area. When the Public Safety officer couldn’t inform Franklin of the exact policy in the student handbook, Franklin read through the handbook online and found that there was no information regarding closing hours for the building.
“I planned to stay up all night to study for my LSAT,” he said. “I didn’t know we weren’t supposed to be on the second floor past midnight.”
The officer left the scene and returned at approximately 1:30 a.m., along with two additional officers and two Davie police officers. Franklin said that while one of the police officers, whose name is unknown, was friendly, Davie Officer Christopher Costello became aggressive.
“Officer Christopher Costello called me a ‘jackass’ for not complying with Public Safety when he came and told me I had to leave the first time,” Franklin said. “I tried to explain to him that I asked the Public Safety officer about the policy about students being able to study on the second floor and closing time of the UC, but he didn’t care.”
The Davie Police Department did not comment on the incident.
Franklin reported that as he tried to shift stances, Costello dug his fingers into his chest. When Franklin asked why the officer was putting his hands on him, Costello reportedly told Franklin it was ‘because he was trying to walk away.’ Franklin proceeded to provide the officer with his student ID.
“I hand him my student ID, which he snatches out of my hand, then he hands it to Public Safety while they took pictures of it with their cell phones,” he reported. “As Officer Costello let me out of the corner after giving me back my student ID, he said, ‘If I ever catch you back up here again I’m going to arrest you.’ The way the police officer handled the situation — I don’t know if he would have handled it the same way if I were another student.”
Brumley said that when local police are involved in a situation, along with Public Safety, the local officers have the authority over a situation; however, if Public Safety feels the situation is getting out of hand, they are trained to call their supervisor for assistance.
The report details that Costello then threatened to handcuff Franklin if he didn’t calm down. Franklin said that the officer wanted to get a reaction out of him by using excessive force and that there was no reason for handcuffs, as he was complying with their questions.
Franklin posted about the incident on his Facebook page. Facebook users commented on the post with similar stories at NSU and their concerns that the act was of discrimination. Franklin said he also feels the actions were based on discrimination, and he wants similar situations to be avoided.
“If I were a different race, [the aggressive behavior of the officer] would not have happened,” he said.
Jim Ewing, director of public safety, met with Franklin on Oct. 6. Franklin said that after telling Ewing he felt this was an act of discrimination, Ewing responded that Public Safety was just doing their job.
Brumley said she will meet with Franklin directly because if discrimination is involved, it divides the case into separate issues — the Public Safety officer who made the original call and the Davie officer involved in the incident.
“If Franklin decides he wants to pursue something with the Davie police, it will be a separate issue than anything we do internally with the Public Safety officer who reported the incident,” she said. “There has to be two separate pieces, depending on what Franklin wants to do.”
Brumley commended Franklin for how he handled the situation. She said that NSU is a minority-majority school and recommends that any student who finds him- or herself in a similar situation report it immediately.
“My highest priority here is students and student safety. To have anyone feel that there was a case of discrimination is very serious, and I take it very seriously,” Brumley said. “The way the situation was handled by the Davie police officer was unacceptable, assuming that the entire report was true.”
